Tuesday, May 31, 2005

The Scouts Oath

The Federalist Patriot has a good piece about the war on the Boy Scouts. As an old scout myself, I find the attacks by the ACLU reprehensible; the Boy Scouts teach young men many important values- responsibility, self-reliance, respect for others, etc. The Boy Scouts have a great reverence for nature, and Native American tradition is greatly respected. One would think that these values would be attractive to the ``cultural diversity`` and environmentalist crowd, but it seems the left can`t get over their prejudices. The only requirement the Scouts have is that a member must believe in God, so this makes the BSA anathema to the left. (That, and no open homosexuality, which one should expect from a group of pubescent boys led by male leaders; the left certainly had a field day when it came to pedophilic behavior by priests toward alter boys, yet they demand gay rights among Boy Scouts-what hypocrisy!)

At any rate, below is the text from the Federalist. Most of you probably don`t receive the Federalist because you have to subscribe (free) and you can do that online here. The Federalist comes twice a week, and is filled with fascinating information that is hard to come by elsewhere.

From The Patriot Perspective:

It is a remarkable experience for all in attendance, though it could be the last. The Boy Scouts have yet to be kicked out of Chattanooga's National Cemetery, but they have been exiled from many other public places.

Why?

Because all Scouts are bound by the following oath: "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country...." It is an oath which, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, makes the BSA a "religious organization," and, thus, in keeping with the ACLU's adulterated version of our Constitution's First Amendment, disqualifies the BSA from any public forum. Unfortunately, the ACLU and their patriarchs in Congress have planted enough judicial activists in U.S. Circuit Courts across the nation to impose, by judicial fiat, their God-forsaking agenda. (For a thorough Constitutional debunking of the ACLU's "wall of separation" claim, read "Public Prayer? Where's the outrage!" at http://FederalistPatriot.US/Alexander/)

In 1999, the ACLU sued the Department of Defense for sponsoring some 400 Boy Scout programs, including the national Boy Scouts Jamboree in Virginia. American Legion National Commander Thomas Cadmus protested last year, in a letter to SecDef Don Rumsfeld: "The idea that sponsorship of Scouting by American military units is 'unconstitutional' goes beyond the absurd, even well past the point of stupidity."

Absurd and stupid, indeed -- so who is funding all these ACLU suits? American taxpayers -- that's you and me.

Many of the ACLU's "attorney-fee awards" are paid for under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S. Code Sec. 1988, legislation intended to provide compensation to legitimate victims of civil-rights violations. The ACLU is exploiting this law using phony plaintiffs suffering de minimis claims. Additionally, they are scalping state and local taxpayers. After the ACLU got the Boy Scouts removed from Balboa Park in San Diego, they collected a cool $940,000 from the city in "compensation." The Portland Public School system recently paid the ACLU $108,000 after an atheist objected to Boy Scout recruitment on school property after school hours.

Such complaints are creeping across the nation and showing up on "ACLU-friendly" Circuit Court dockets -- all because the Boy Scouts refuse to remove the word "God" from their oath. Will the United States military be cowed as well? Or will it summon the resolve to engage this mortal enemy of our national heritage?

Earlier this year, the Department of Defense settled with the ACLU, agreeing not to sponsor any of the scouting activities monetarily, while it will still allow scouting events at military installations -- a military retreat but not complete withdrawal. However, every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine and Coastguardsman we honor this Memorial Day, and all those in service now, are bound by their oath "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.... So help me God."

So help me God.

The ACLU's Adam Schwartz noticed, protesting, "If our Constitution's promise of religious liberty is to be a reality, the government should not be administering religious oaths or discriminating based on religious beliefs." But, as noted in the essay referenced above, there is no "wall of separation" between religion and the government; there is only a prohibition on the Congress from establishing a national religion. However, the Circuit Courts are chock-full-o the ACLU's judicial activists, those who, in the words of the august Senator Sam Ervin, "interpret the Constitution to mean what it would have said if they, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it."

The courts are stacked with such despots, as Thomas Jefferson called them, because neither they, nor the members of the Senate who seat them (you know who you are), abide by their oaths to defend our Constitution -- "So help me God" -- the same Creator to whom members of our Armed Forces appeal. The difference, of course, is that our uniformed Patriots have defended, and continue to defend, that oath with their lives, while liberal senators and judges defend it with lip service over cappuccinos and tartlets.